Cold Winds, Metal Arms
by sarasponda
Summary: There are dark and deep secrets being kept from Ed and Al about their mother. What is hidden in Trisha Elric's mysterious past? Pull up a chair and settle in, this is going to be a long one. Rated T for foul language


There were a few things that were keeping Edward from sleeping. Number one, his blasted leg was killing him. True, he just completed another session of screw tightening and nerve end connecting with Winry a few hours ago, but still it hurt like hell. Number two, Al had left the lamp on and Ed was in no shape to stand up and turn it off. Number three, no matter how much he yelled, his brother was nowhere in earshot and therefore couldn't come to his rescue and flick the light switch off.

"AL! Get your lug of metal ass over here! Where the hell did you go!?"

Still there weren't any answers. Even Winry and Pinako apparently had gone deaf. Their bedrooms were down the hall so they had no excuse for not being partial servant s for whatever Edward wanted or asked for. Currently he was in need of a good steak sandwich with some of that apple pie, a nice hot bath would be good. Oh, and he definitely, DEFINITLEY needed the fucking lights off!

But after a good twenty more minutes of shouting he was beginning to get very angry and even a bit worried. With a good amount of pain and a lot of upper body strength, he was able to push himself off the bed and onto the floor. Some more pain got him to slide his body out into the hallway.

It was only nine o'clock at night, but for some reason all the lights were out in the Rockbell home. Well, all of them except the gigantic orb that was alit in Edwards room. Speaking of which, he was too far away to reach it now.

"Blast, I should have just used alchemy!" He said in frustration, annoyed that he hadn't thought of that sooner. He clapped his hands together to form a circle and quickly shut the light out without any problems.

Of course now he was stuck in the hallway, in the dark, with a bum leg and an empty stomach!

"WINRY! AL! WHERE ARE YOU?"

A large clanking sound from a room upstairs hinted that Alphonse Elric was nearby and moving about.

"ALPHONSE!" Edward screamed again.

"Brother?" Finally, the giant suit of armor that was the body of Ed's younger brother came stomping into the hallway. "Goodness, Brother. What are you doing out of bed?"

"I was looking for you, dumbass. Now where the fuck have you been?"

"Wow, it's really dark in here. Let me get the lights for you." And to Ed's annoyance, Al returned to the bedroom to flick the lights back on.

"Well, that's just great, thanks a lot. That is exactly the first and most important thing that I need." Ed stated with thick sarcasm.

"I'm sorry, Brother, but Winry just found something really fascinating upstairs. We've been busy talking about it and didn't realize that you were awake."

"Wow. What was it? A new wrench?"

"Ummm, no. But perhaps we should talk about it in the morning. I think it would be best if I helped you back to bed."

"I'm already awake. Tell me now."

"Actually, ummm, I'd prefer to tell you later."

Now this was bizarre. First the secret talk Winry and Al were having without him and now Al was refusing to tell him about it.

"Al, I am going to ask you again nicely. Would you _please_ tell me what's going on?"

"I'd really like to, Ed, but Winry said….."

"Dammit AL! I have had quite a miserable night already! So if you don't start talking soon I'm going to…"

"What's going on over here?" Came Pinako's voice. "Ed, why are you out of bed? You need to be resting that leg of yours."

"I would be if you all hadn't abandoned me to go talk about something without me!" Ed yelped with extra emphasis on the word "me".

Pinako sighed and motioned for Al to pick Ed up and take him back to his bed. Once that was done Winry had showed up with an extra strong mug of tea and a slice of her famous apple pie. She brought a glass of milk too but Ed pretended he didn't see it. Pinako sat at the foot of the bed while Winry and Al stood beside it. It was like they were trying to circle him so he wouldn't escape. Ed watched them for a second in silence before taking a large forkful of pie crust.

"Ok, what's going on here?" He said after a long chew and swallow.

"Ed, we have something to tell you." Winry started. She was looking at the floor and her hands were fidgeting with a large wrench she was holding. "It's…It's about your mother."

Ed dropped the fork. "Go on."

"It appears that Trisha Elric may not have been your birth mother." Pinako continued for her granddaughter. Always to the point, Pinako delivered the blundering information without any pause.

At first Edward thought they were all kidding and laughed loudly in their faces. But when they continued to stand there in silence, the horrible truth of their words began to sink in. His stomach suddenly felt very queasy and he had to move the pie away because the smell was making him sick.

"How do you know?" He asked quietly. This time, Al started talking with his tinny, faraway voice.

"Apparently when we burned our house down a few years ago there were a few things left behind that didn't burn. One of them was an old metal trunk that mom had saved some of her things in. Inside were a lot of different things, but the most interesting was this." He handed Ed a small leather book he had been holding. Ed quickly opened and began to flip through the pages.

"It's her diary!" Ed cried. He never knew such a thing existed and cursed himself for not looking for it sooner. He tried reading the first entry but couldn't get very far because his eyes were welling up with tears.

"Perhaps we should let you read it later." Winry said, and tried to take the book away from him.

"NO!" Ed slapped her hand out of the way and wiped his eyes so he could see better. The first page contained a short paragraph written in the neat precise writing that he recognized as his mother's hand.

_October 5__th__ 1899_

_Risembool is a lovely little town. I do believe I will be happy here. Van has already introduced me to the neighbors, the Rockbells, who are old friends of his. We haven't even finished unpacking our dishes yet and they have insisted we come over for dinner. I haven't told Van yet, but I'm really starting to believe that I may be pregnant! Although the signs are faint, I do have a strange feeling that something is growing inside me. It's a very peculiar feeling but I can't stop thinking about it. I shouldn't get my hopes up, but still, it would be lovely to have children._

Ed felt a bit of a smile from reading his mother's words.

"I don't know what you guys have been reading, but this sure sounds like she's my mom!"

"Keep reading, Edward." Pinako insisted with a bitter expression.

Ed swallowed hard but he kept reading the diary.

_December 16__th__ 1899_

_I should have been writing more often but things have been too wonderful to stop and write things down. Yesterday I was blessed with the birth of my first child. He's a beautiful baby boy and we've decided to call him Edward after my grandfather. I couldn't be happier. He's a little small, but everyone swears he'll grow up big and tall like his father. I'm not worried at all. Edward is a happy baby with lots of life and energy. I'm so blessed to have him._

"SEE! She says she had a baby and named it Edward! That baby was me!"

"Look at the dates, Brother." Alphonse said, pointing to the book.

"December sixteenth, yes that's right. My birthday is the fifteenth!"

"But look at the entry before that. She wrote that she thought she might be pregnant in October of 1899. Then, according to this, she had you two months later in December. That doesn't make any sense, Edward. It takes a baby nine months before it can be born." Al gently stated.

"Well, then maybe she wrote the dates down wrong! This doesn't prove anything! You were there, Pinako, you remember when my mother had me."

"On the contrary, Edward, I don't. When your mother and father moved here they already had had you. You were only a few months old and they were planning on having another baby. That's why they moved here in the first place. Your father wanted a larger house and a small town for his children to grow up in. Yet according to the diary, your mother states that she moved here before she had children."

"So what? So the diary is wrong about a few details! That doesn't mean that she isn't my mother!"

"Hang on, Ed, there's more."

Winry pulled the diary back and started flipping through the pages until she found the one she was looking for.

"This one was written on the day Al was born." She handed it back to Ed.

_March 29__th__ 1900_

_Finally, after hours of painful labor, Alphonse Elric decided to come into this world. He's a delightful child and everyone is in love with him already. Van says he looks just like his brother, which is a little strange seeing how Edward's history is so different from his little brother's. I love them both and I'm so happy that I was finally able to have a child myself this time. Edward is a bit jealous of his new baby brother, but I'm sure in the future they will be best of friends. Maybe I can talk Van into having more if I can. It took enough convincing just to have this one, so I shouldn't be too upset if he says no. But no matter what the struggles were, I'm glad that I have such beautiful, healthy sons. _

Before Ed could say anything about what he had just read, Winry was handing him some photographs.

"We found these inside another book she kept. We believe this one is older because your father is in it."

The one with Hohenheim in it made Ed gag a little bit. The man was standing in what looked like a dingy hospital ward holding an infant. Ed flipped it over and saw that there was a scratchy message quickly written on the photograph.

_Edward and Von at St. Yehuda's Home for Orphaned Boys, Central. _

_ ORPHANED BOYS!_

Edward gulped loudly. "I…..I don't understand!"

"It get's weirder. Look at the other picture. Doesn't that woman look like you?"

Ed glanced at the picture which was a shot of his mother holding him as a toddler. She was also largely pregnant and smiling prettily in the sunlight. Normally this would have been completely fine. There were lots of photographs of his mother being pregnant with Al and having a younger version of himself with her. What was really strange was the other woman in the shot. She was standing next to his mother, smiling boldly so he could see how familiar her grin looked. She also had similar coppery blond hair to his own and she was nearly a head shorter than his mother. He flipped the photo over again to find another short message.

_Trisha and Jane Elric, March 1900_

_ Jane _ELRIC! _Did mom have a sister? Why didn't I know about this?_

"I…..WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Ed flung the photos across the bed. "Are you telling me that I might have been an orphan? Or that I have an aunt I didn't know about?"

"There are no concrete answers, Brother, but it is awfully strange."

"I knew he would get upset! We should have waited until morning, at least! He's going to tear apart his leg all over again!" Winry grumbled.

"Hush girl." Pinako stated. "It's good that Ed knows the truth. We wouldn't want to keep this from him. Edward, I want you to try to put this aside for a bit and get some rest. You will have a better outlook on this in the…."

"Shush it granny, get out of my way." He used his metal arm to push her to the side so he could lean on Al and stumble onto the floor.

"HEY, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, MISTER!"

"Quiet, Winry. Al, take me upstairs."

"But, Brother!"

"Just do as I say, Al, we don't have much time."

Thankfully Al didn't argue with him and started toward the doorway. But they didn't get very far before there was a large clonking sound and Ed felt a giant wrench sized lump beginning to form on his head.

"HEY! I thought you wanted me to heal after that last operation!" He snapped back at Winry.

"That's why I threw it at your head and not your leg, dumbass! Now get back in bed!"

"Can't now."

"Why not?" Her face was scarlet with anger so Ed took a deep breath and said what he needed to quietly and quickly.

"Because I need to see what's in that trunk."

There was a long silence, but no one went to stop them. Slowly, Al helped his brother upstairs.


End file.
